What Does US Local Debt Teach Rest of Us?

　　A new study in the United States is suggesting state governments are carrying both total and future liabilities in the range of between 1 to 4 trillion US dollars.

 

　　The Harvard Institute of Government report suggets the debt at the state level is a result of pension and health care programs for government workers.

 

　　These future liabilities are in addition to the money that individual state governments may have already borrowed.

 

　　US policy makers¹ are now being confronted with the challenge of trying to reduce the debt loads without causing any drastic consequences for people's lives.

 

　　For more on this situation, CRI's Nathan Wakelin-King spoke² with Professor Geoffrey Garet, founder³ of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

1 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。